Biden OKs $3.46Bln Boost To FEMA Climate Change Disaster Aid Funds - Homeland Security

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2021) US President Joe Biden has approved a more than $3.46 billion spending package to increase US national resilience to the impacts and damage caused by ongoing climate change across the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Thursday.

"President Biden today approved more than $3.46 billion to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change nationwide," the DHS said in a press release. "This significant investment will be available for natural hazard mitigation measures across the 59 major disaster declarations issued due to the COVID-19 global pandemic."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) within the DHS will use the aid package in its Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provide funding to states, tribes, and territories for mitigation projects to reduce the impacts of climate change, the release explained.

"Every state, tribe, and territory that received a major disaster declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic will be eligible to receive four percent of those disaster costs to invest in mitigation projects that reduce risks from natural disasters," the DHS said.

The investment represents a 23 percent increase in the funding made available for declared disasters since the program's inception. Over the past 30 years, it has made more than $15 billion available to states, tribes, and territories to reduce risks from future disasters, the DHS said.